Month: May 2011

Premier Christy Clark recently re-affirmed her commitment to BC’s greenhouse gas emission targets in an open letter to British Columbians. That’s good (and thanks to our friends at the Sierra Club of BC for drawing this to my attention). To remind folks: BC has committed to reduce it’s GHG emissions by 33% by 2020, and… View Article

As British Columbia Premier Christy Clark makes her debut in the provincial legislature this coming week, the media spotlight will likely be on the predictable verbal sparring between her and Adrian Dix, the NDP’s recently minted leader, over Clark’s alleged “fix” of the Harmonized Sales Tax. Meaning that Independent MLAs Bob Simpson and Vicki Huntington… View Article

This is no way to make tax policy. Wednesday’s proposed reforms to the HST provide yet more evidence that what we really need is a Fair Tax Commission –– a full public engagement exercise in which the entire tax regime is on the table, and people can deliberate on how we want to raise the… View Article

A new report by British Columbia’s Auditor General has debunked nearly every benefit claimed so far for public private partnerships (P3s). The Auditor General’s report on a Vancouver Coastal Health Authority (VCHA) project adds to earlier criticisms by his counterparts about failings in P3 hospital projects in Quebec and Ontario.  The BC report, released on… View Article

Once again, over the last few weeks Canadians have had energy costs on our minds. Prices at the pump rocketed up to nearly $1.50, while the price of a barrel of oil was actually going down. What can we possibly do?  Industry officials blame unrest in the Middle East and floods on the Mississippi. Former… View Article

With one of the colder springs on record, many British Columbians quite naturally yearn for a good stretch of warm, dry weather. But for many people in the province, prolonged periods of hotter and drier weather are often far from welcome. That’s because when things get hot and dry they burn. And in many regions… View Article

In case you were worried, the Financial Post reports that “new wealth” will continue to be generated in Canada and be one of the developed countries to “have some of the biggest concentrations of millionaire households by 2020.”    I’m feeling so relieved, aren’t you? A Deloitte LLP report predicts that 2.4 million households in Canada will… View Article

I love reading Estimates debates in the legislature.  It is a rare opportunity for Opposition critics to grill their assigned Cabinet Ministers at length.  Sometimes the oddest things come out.  On Wednesday the NDP Critic Doug Routley was questioning the Minister for Citizen Services and Open Government Stephanie Cadieux.  It turns out that following up on… View Article

Many Canadians have expressed fear about what our new national government, a majority elected by a 39% minority, will do now that it has four years of real power.  For those concerned Canadians, British Columbia offers a lesson. BC’s government has discovered from an independent study that their HST is not revenue neutral.  It will… View Article

We have a lost a lot with the demise of the Bloc Quebecoise as a significant presence in Parliament. Social policy in Quebec has been more progressive than elsewhere in Canada for a long time. This is particularly important for policy related to women’s rights, including labour and social policy that allow women’s full participation… View Article